So, there you are. You’ve got that brand new logo assignment you’ve been waiting for.

Grabbing that cup of coffee, you sit down to get started. Thumbing through the brief, you have a few fleeting thoughts, but nothing too concrete. Maybe you decide to fire up Twitter for a little motivation. Whoa.

70 Inspiring Logo Designs. Click. 35 Green Logo Designs. Click. Tutorial this. Click. How-to that. Click. 40 Logo Designs with Barns. Click.

With the constant stream and endless supply of logo inspiration available on the web and in print these days, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Like a kid in a candy store, there is almost too much to consider. Tons of inspirational reference, dozens of tutorials and scores of how-to articles all too willing to help you out of your creative hole.

Then, you try the logo design annuals. ‘Maybe I can find something cool in here’. 3,000 great examples here, 2,500 more there. It sometimes seems impossible to come up with something new and inspiring with so much creative territory that’s already been covered. Now, you’re really stumped.

So, how do you move forward? Where do you go from here? How do you avoid burnout?

What you need is some inspirational detox.

But first, research. Doing research for your logo project is one of the most important parts of the process. Finding little nuggets of information about your client’s business is key – especially if you’re not that familiar with the category. Category background, competitors, imagery, earlier designs, books and other details can help you put together a smart design that makes sense and is on strategy.

Staying with trends. This is not to say that your next design needs to be trendy, but it does mean you need to be aware of what is considered contemporary and current and what has become cliché. Most of all, you need to know what the rules are, in order to break them.

Alright now, you’ve been out there. You’ve scoured through those sites and commented on those blogs. You’ve visually ingested volumes and volumes of logo designs in print. It’s time to go cold turkey.

Look away. Be strong. Stay away from the awards annuals and inspiration sites – for now. That really shouldn’t be the first step in your creative process, anyway. Done too much, it could only lead to either mimicking the work in there – or worse, building up a bigger creative block. Although they are encouraging to look at, scouring through design books during a deadline is a last resort.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I have a great personal library of logo design books right here in my studio, and plenty of bookmarks of cool logo sites from all over the web. I try to stay current of the trends and keep abreast of new stuff as much as anybody. But sometimes, you’ve got to step away and freestyle it. Go with what you know, and see what happens.

Release yourself from the inspirational handcuffs. You may find that you’re throwing out perfectly good ideas, because you might think they aren’t working or seem good enough. Try working up some concepts in the old analog sketchbook. Find some scrap paper and doodle on there. Stop the editing. Draw them up anyway. Get them on paper. Let them simmer for awhile and check on them again, later. You never know what may develop.

Then, after you’ve got yourself a decent handful of ideas, check and see if they’ve been done before at your usual online haunts. If not, you’re golden. Do ‘em up on the computer.

If that’s not doing the trick, try something different. Visit a used bookstore. Take a trip to an antique market. Go on a hike. Take a road trip. Explore. Take your mind off of it for awhile. I believe our brain is processing the task in the background, and when you do get back to it, you’ll be surprised what it’s come up with.

Giving all that ‘inspiration’ some space is good for you. We’re so exposed to all this great reference and information, we sometimes don’t know when to stop. Some of my best work came from purposely shutting off the usual sources and trying something new – like writing a how-to article for my blog.